The Struggles of Neil Raymond - The Warrior Behind The Gentleman
by hunterofartemis126
Summary: What is bodyguard (Guardian) and half vampire (Dhampir) Neil Raymond really like? Is he the quiet English gentleman everyone thinks? Is he simply an honour bound Guardian? Or is he a coward? The only way to find out is to look at the complex web that is his life...
1. Chapter 1

The Struggles of Neil Raymond: The Warrior Behind The Gentleman

Disclaimer: I don't own the Bloodlines series. All credit goes to Richelle Mead for creating such amazing characters.

Chapter One

I awoke suddenly to a loud, impatient knock at my door. I got out of my soft, comfortable bed and walked across the small, bare room to answer it.

"Who is it?" I called. I wouldn't be opening the door unless I got an answer.

"It's me," said a voice. I knew the voice well and I didn't particularly want to hear it again. I slowly opened the door and stepped back, allowing my visitor into the room.

"Why are you here?" I asked him curiously. Guardian Edward Brown scowled at me nastily. He was one of the highest ranking guardians in our small base outside Devon.

"Should you really be talking to your superiors like that, Guardian Raymond?" he asked sneering.

An uncharacteristic scowl spread across my face. Brown was a year younger than me and had just finished school several months ago so I did not really regard him as my superior.

I decided to shift the topic back to why he was here in the first place and avoid his remark.

"To answer your question, I'm here to tell you about your new assignment." he said before I could say anything.

"Couldn't it have waited until later?" I asked slightly annoyed looking at the small alarm clock on my desk. It was only four in the morning.

"No," he said flatly "You have to catch a plane in four hours."

"Excuse me?" I asked because he couldn't be serious.

"You heard me. Now, I will explain the assignment before you go to the airport."

I simply nodded and waited for him to continue.

"Well," he began "You know that queen Vasilisa's sister Princess Jillian was taken into hiding a few months ago?"

"Yes," I said warily "But what does that have to do with me? They already sent a guardian with her, didn't they?"

He nodded "Yes, but the alchemist there seems to think that they need another guardian so they are sending you to Palm Springs where they are staying."

The alchemists, for those of you who don't know, are a society of humans who keep the world of vampires secret from humans.

"So, I'm going today?" I asked to clarify it.

"Yes," Brown agreed and I nodded in understanding.

It had been a while since my last assignment and I was bored of this small base where nothing interesting ever happened.

An hour after my briefing with Brown, I was sitting in the small airport which was a few miles from our base. I was looking at the passport that they had given to me.

I had been very surprised to find my real name on it because Brown had said that all of the other people with Jillian had been given fake names.

I also had their fake names written down so that I could ask the school's administrative office if I couldn't find them on my own. He had also told me their real names in case I didn't have to ask the school.

I sighed. I was very bored and needed something to read. I moved to the nearest of the airport's shops and bought a book about marcial arts. It would keep me busy, hopefully.

The flight landed in Palm Springs in the afternoon and I got a taxi the rest of the way to Amberwood Prep, the private school where princess Jillian and her companions were staying.

When I got there I began to wheel the small suitcase I had brought towards a building which looked like it could contain offices.

"Need some help with that?" said a friendly voice from behind me I realized from his voice that I would have to get used to Americans now that I was away from my home country. I turned to face him and saw that he was a boy of about eighteen and as I studied him I knew that he was a dhampir like me.

"Are you Eddie Castile?" I asked him. He looked at me warily for a moment and then realized that I was also a dhampir.

"Yes," he said at last "Who are you?"

"Guardian Neil Raymond." I said pleasantly offering my hand for him to shake. He took it and we shook hands.

"Why are you here, Guardian Raymond?" Eddie asked, confusion showing clearly in his sharp hazel eyes.

I explained to him what Brown had said about the alchemist's claim that Princess Jillian wasn't safe enough.

"What!?" he asked furiously, "She said that?"

"Yes, that is what my superiors told me anyway. Oh, and no need for titles. You can call me Neil."

Eddie still looked irritated but all he said was: "You should meet the others, come on."

Seeing no better plan I followed him to meet the others.

Author's Note: Hi everyone! It's been a long time since I wrote anything on FanFiction. For any of you who read my other story, A Meeting of Minds, I'm not giving up on it, I've just been really busy with school and things but I will finish it. I decided to do this fanfiction because not many authors write stories with Neil as the main character.

Anyway, thanks a lot for reading my first chapter. I would apreciate it if you would leave me a review to tell me what you thought, hunterofartemis126 (Nicolaclair). Nicolaclair is my real first name, by the way.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own the Bloodlines series (although, I wish that I did).

Chapter Two

The first thing we did was to go to the Girls' dorms which are on the school's east campus. The school has three campuses, east were the girls' live, central were the classes and administration buildings are, and west were the boys live.

When we got there, we met another dhampir named Angeline Dawes. She had long auburn hair and watchful, bright blue eyes. She also stayed as far away from Eddie as she could and wouldn't make eye contact with him.

"Where are Jill and Sydney?" Eddie asked her in a voice which was polite but reserved. She scowled at him and said coldly,

"I don't know. Maybe you should call them."

He took out his mobile and dialed a number. After a moment someone answered and there was a brief conversation.

"Their coming." he said.

While we waited, I began to pace backwards and forwards with my back to them. It was very obvious to me that there was some bad history between Eddie and Angeline and I didn't really want to make it worse by standing there trying to talk to them when they so obviously didn't want to talk to each other.

Five minutes later, two girls came to join us. One of them was a Moroi (a peaceful vampire who can work elemental magic and who lives and dies like humans and dhampirs do. They are also the ones we guardians live to protect) with curly, light brown hair and nervous jade green eyes. I assumed that this was Princess Jillian.

The other girl was human, obviously this was Sydney Sage, the Alchemist who had been responsible for my arrival.

She had dark blonde hair which was similar to Eddie's in colour and brown eyes which almost seemed amber in the sunlight.

"He's a dhampir," I heard Jillian murmur to Sydney.

"Jill, Sydney, this is Neil Raymond." said Eddie "He's going to be joining us here."

I gave a low bow to Jillian and said formally, "Princess jillian, it is an honour to serve you and I will do so to the best of my abilities even if it means sacrificing my own life." She stepped back in surprise and it took a moment for her to find her voice.

"Th-thank you," she said at last.

Eddie's eyes flicked back and forth between us a small frown that I didn't understand appearing on his face.

"Neil's been sent as backup." he explained "I guess you filed a complaint about Jill not having enough protection?" he added turning to Sydney.

"No I... oh I guess I kind of did." she said and unless I was mistaken she sounded slightly surprised that the authorities had acted so quickly in getting me here.

Sydney stepped forwards and shook my hand.

"Nice to have you around, Neil," she said pleasantly "Are they passing you off as another cousin?"

"Just a new student," I told her and she looked slightly relieved. I suppose I couldn't blame her if the stories they told about Alchemists being so afraid of moroi and dhampirs were true.

"Well," she said, "I have an errand to run, I'll catch up with all of you later." and with that she walked back inside and unless my mind was playing tricks on me, Jill, Eddie and Angeline gave her sad looks as she left.

"Well," said Eddie "It'll be dinner time soon and we still need to see about your room for the night, Neil, so we better go."

"Ok," I agreed and followed him away from the others.

Author's Note: Thanks so much for reading my story. Please leave me a review to tell me what you thought, hunterofartemis126 (Nicolaclair).


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own the Bloodlines series.

Chapter Three

It was much easier than I expected for us to get me a room for the night. The woman at the front desk said that I could just share Eddie's room for the night since his roommate was already gone. We thanked her and Eddie led the way upstairs.

"So," said Eddie as we climbed the stairs "Are you from Britain?"

"Yes," I responded "From England to be exact. Near Devon."

"Oh," he said "I didn't know that the guardians had a base there."

"It is quite a new base," I admitted "and it's pretty small too. It was only built about five years ago and not many guardians are assigned there."

"Well, that would explain it." he said as he opened a door.

The room was quite large with gleaming pine furniture and a good view of the desert.

"This isn't too bad," I said with mild surprise "I expected something much messier."

"Well, I'm not really a messy person," Eddie pointed out with a slight smile.

The rest of the day we just relaxed. At dinner time, we went to the East campus cafeteria and had our meal there.

To my surprise, the alchemist girl, Sydney, did not turn up.

"Does the alchemist usually join you?" I asked the group curiously.

"Yes, but..." began Angeline but then quickly cut herself off.

"But what?" I asked. I was beginning to grow a little suspicious.

"Nothing," said Princess Jillian quickly "She'll probably be here soon."

I could tell from their faces that they seriously doubted that.

My suspicions were confirmed when, even after we had all eaten, the alchemist was nowhere to be seen.

"Shouldn't we call our superiors?" I asked Eddie, "To see if they know where she is?"

"No. She'll be back." said Eddie and turned away from me. I couldn't really understand why he was acting so strangely but I decided that if he wanted to keep secrets from me, I suppose I would have to wait and try to figure them out on my own.

About an hour after dinner, I heard Eddie's phone ring. He was in the bathroom and couldn't get to it. I, being respectful of others' privacy, left the phone alone and it went to voice mail.

I heard the message that was left and I immediately jumped to my feet. When Eddie came out of the bathroom, he looked mildly surprised.

"What's going on, Neil?" he asked me.

"There is a new alchemist coming," I said "We have to go to meet her."

Author's Note: Thank you so much for reading my story! Please tell me what you thought in a review. Thanks again for reading, hunterofartemis126 (Nicolaclair).


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own the Bloodlines series.

Chapter Four

"When you say a new alchemist," said Eddie, "Do you mean to replace Sydney?"

"No," I said "Apparently this girl is being sent as an apprentice to Sydney. From the message on your phone, it sounds like her name is Zoe Sage."

"Oh." said Eddie "That must be Sydney's sister then."

"Maybe," I said "But we had better go to meet her."

"Do all of us need to go?" asked Eddie sounding wary.

"I don't think so." I said cautiously "The message just said that someone should show her to the girls' dorm."

"I'll do it." said Eddie "You can stay here."

"Are you sure?" I asked him "Yes. You're still new here."

"Fair enough," I replied "See you soon."

"Yeah," he agreed and walked out of the room.

We went to bed pretty early that night. Eddie got a text from Adrian, another of Princess Jillian's companions, that Sydney had returned and was safe. Eddie seemed rather relieved about that and immediately wrote back to tell Adrian that he was glad to hear it.

The next morning, we had breakfast at the West campus cafeteria. The alchemist, Sydney joined us with the new apprentice, Zoe who had brown hair and eyes very much like Sydney's.

"Zoe," said Sydney "I don't think you've met everyone yet. This is Jill, Eddie, Angeline and Neil."

Zoe said nothing but she nodded to each of us. She looked as though she might run off at any moment.

"So," said Eddie in an attempt to make conversation "You and Zoe are sisters, right?"

"Yes, she's my younger sister." said Sydney affectionately "But while we're here, she's just another alchemist. This is business."

"Of course," I agreed "It wouldn't be appropriate to be too ... er sisterly when you're here on an important mission."

"Exactly." said Zoe. It was the first time she had spoken and as soon as she said it, she looked around the table, terrified.

"So," said Jillian changing the subject "When are we going to Clarence's?"

"Who's Clarence?" I asked curiously.

"He's a moroi who let's us use his feeder," she explained "We're staying with him for winter break."

"I see," I said "Is his home safe?"

"Yes," said Eddie at once "And we're leaving at noon." he added turning towards Jillian.

"Well," said Jillian "After breakfast, we better get our things packed as quickly as we can."

"Yes," agreed Sydney and we all nodded.

Author's Note: Thanks for reading. Please let me know what you thought in a review. hunterofartemis126 (Nicolaclair)


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own the Bloodlines series.

Chapter Five

In the month which followed, I became a part of the group. All of them were fairly pleasant (except Zoe who still constantly looked as though she might run as far away from us as she could) and although I admit I regarded Eddie as a rival in life, I found that it was quite easy to get on with the rest of the group and even Eddie, when I tried to.

One night, we were heading to Clarence's home for one of the biweekly feedings which doubled as a family dinner of sorts. For the first time I could remember, Adrian was driving instead of Sydney.

As we were all getting into his bright yellow Mustang, Zoe stood outside, refusing to join us.

"There's no room," she said stubbornly, "Your car doesn't have enough seats."

"Not true," said Adrian in his usual unconcerned way. Jill, I had stopped calling her Jillian because it was pretty obvious that she didn't like it, moved towards Adrian to make room. "This seat's meant to hold three. The last owner even fitted it with an extra seat belt."

"Besides," he added cheerfully "We're all family, right?"

Zoe stood there for a moment, staring at the empty seat. Although she had been with us for a month, she was still acutely uncomfortable around moroi and dhampirs.

"You don't have to go if you're afraid," said Adrian. I could tell that he was trying to get her to come with us by suggesting that she was afraid, and even if she was, I knew without a doubt that it would work. Sure enough, Zoe got into the car and slammed the door shut, shifting so that she would be as close to the door as possible.

"I wish Sydney had left the SUV." I heard her mumble a few minutes later.

The drive to Clarence's home was pretty quiet. There was some conversation about Sydney but I didn't join in. I am not usually a very talkative person anyway and noone appeared to notice my silence.

When we reached Clarence's, there was a small discussion about who would order the food for our dinner since Sydney had a school assignment and couldn't do it for us. It was eventually decided that Eddie would make the call and order pizza. When he was finished and Jill had come back from her feeding, Angeline turned to me.

"Are you okay with what we ordered?" she asked me. "You didn't pipe up with any requests."

I shook my head solemnly before replying: "I can't waste time quibbling over trivial things like pepperoni and mushrooms. If you'd gone to my school in Devon you would understand. For one of our classes, they left us alone on the moors to fend for ourselves and learn survival skills. Spend three days eating twigs and heather and you'll learn not to argue about any food coming your way."

Angeline and Jill immediately got dreamy looks which I didn't really understand. What was so exciting about eating plants and surviving on the moors?

Suddenly, Zoe's phone rang and she looked at it in alarm.

"It's dad." she said in a worried voice and ran out of the room to answer it.

The group continued a conversation but when Zoe came back, the attention was all on her.

"What's going on?" asked Adrian in a anxious tone which I had barely ever heard him use, "Is Sydney OK?"

She shook her head in a daze. She looked very pale and I wondered what had happened to make her so stunned. "I don't know," she said to Adrian at last "It's my parents. They're getting divorced."

Author's Note: Thanks for reading. Please leave a review with any of your thoughts or feelings on this chapter. Thanks again, hunterofartemis126 (Nicolaclair).


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I don't own Bloodlines. Everything belongs to Richelle Mead

Author's Note: Noone really seems to be reading this story. I have like one review and there are no favourites or follows. I really have to know if you want me to continue this so please review and let me know. Otherwise, i'll just delete this and I don't really want to do that because I quite like this story.

Chapter Six

In the days which followed, Zoe seemed to calm down. It seemed as though she had gotten over the shock and was now simply determined that her Dad was the better parent. I, of course, took little interest in the Sage sisters' drama, instead I focused on my duty, as I should.

A few days after the dinner at Clarence's, Jill asked me if I would join her and Adrian for dinner. (They did it once a week but Eddie was usually the Guardian who Jill took along).

"Of course, Your Highness," I said "What time should I meet you?"

"In about half an hour," she said with a smile. "And you know you can call me Jill."

I made no response but I met her half an hour later outside her dorm to meet Adrian. After a few moments, he pulled up in his bright yellow Mustang.

As Jill opened the door, she smiled at Adrian.

"Hi, Adrian," she said brightly, "Neil decided to come along with us tonight."

Well, I thought to myself, that's one way to put it.

"So I see." said Adrian is I got into the car. I nodded briefly at him in the rearview mirror. I didn't really think much of Adrian and I had the feeling that he felt the same way about me.

"Does Castile have a hot date?" Adrian asked Jill. Unless I was mistaken he sounded very huffy.

"No, but we just thought that it would be fun for Neil to get out."

"Plus," I added helpfully, "I have one more year of experience than Eddie. So really, I should be the one who always goes out in public with her highness."

I knew, as I said the words that I sounded a little ... I don't know ... as though I was putting Eddie down. Adrian's next words convinced me that he felt the same way.

"Castile's faced a few tough situations," he pointed out, "How many Strigoi and assassins have you run up against?"

I felt a little uncomfortable but I answered him as calmly as I could.

"I was once part of a large regiment of Guardians protecting a royal family when two strigoi decided to attack."

Adrian definitely sounded sarcastic when he responded.

"Two Strigoi against a whole group of Guardians, huh? Wow, that's pretty hardcore."

Yes, he was definitely laying on the sarcasm.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jill shoot Adrian an angry look.

"Neil's done and seen a lot of things," she told him sternly, "His training is excellent." I felt a small amount of gratitude towards the young princess. She was so nice and always seemed to be there to defend me.

Adrian didn't say anything else to me after that. Instead, he focused his attention on finding a place to park. As he drove in front of a Greek restaurant, a space opened up and Adrian took it immediately.

"Adrian Ivashkov wins again!" he said triumphantly. I rolled my eyes when no one was looking.

There wasn't a long wait in the restaurant and as the hostess led us to our table we passed the dessert case. Jill studied it as we passed and commented innocently.

"Fresh baklava," she noted as she studied the pastries.

"Looks that way," said Adrian. His tone was just as innocent as Jill's but there was a slight smile playing around his lips. "Maybe we can get some to go."

As we sat at our table, Adrian passed on some Greek drink and asked Jill about her swimming team. Meanwhile I focused on my meal and didn't pay attention to the conversation.

I was drawn back into it however when Jill turned to me with happiness in her pretty green eyes.

"Neil's on the wrestling team," she told Adrian, "He's really amazing. The best one. He wins all his matches."

Adrian leaned back in his seat with an expression which said that he was going to try to irritate me again.

"Well," he said, "Of course he does. Any dhampir's going to dominate over a human, it's nature."

I chewed my souvlaki for a moment before I answered him.

"I suppose so." I said. It was true, of course, that we dhampirs would be stronger than humans.

"It hardly seems fair," he continued. There was a gleam of mischief in his eyes now, a look which I really didn't like. "I mean, they make adjustments for weight class but there's no regulating something like that. You're playing with people who can in no way keep up with you."

Jill, again coming to my defense, shot Adrian a warning look. "Well there's nothing he can do." she said angrily, "Seeing as Amberwood doesn't sort by human and dhampir teams."

Again, I felt gratitude but Adrian's next words raised my temper.

"You could always throw the matches," he suggested innocently. Now I was really annoyed. There was no way I could throw a match!

"Throw a match!" I exclaimed, "I couldn't do that. It would go against my personal code of ethics!"

Adrian's face grew perplexed, "Where does taking out people who can in no way keep up with you fit into your ethics?" he wanted to one, "If you ask me, that's the real molal transgression.

I tried to stay calm. He was baiting me and I knew it.

He continued on anyway, obviously not concerned about my rising temper.

"But I mean, it's your life. I don't judge and honestly," he laughed mockingly, "I tend to air a little too much on the side of morality. It's one of my few flaws."

Ok, even I knew he wasn't serious now.

I narrowed my eyes at Adrian.

"I somehow must have missed that." I said, "Tell me more about your views on morality."

As I had thought, Adrian waved me off. "Nah, we don't have that kind of time." he said airily, "But you know who you should talk it over with? Castile:. There's a guy who understands the right thing to do. He faked spraining his ankle for most of the basketball season so he wouldn't have to deal with the uh ethics of competing with humans. Now there's someone who really walks the line."

Adrian's words made my mind cloud slightly with anger.

"Lying isn't exactly honourable either!" I said furiously.

"Not," he admitted "But humility is." He dreamed dreamily, "He'd rather face the humiliation of being out of the game than reap glory he doesn't deserve."

T. Was. X. I was so furious I wanted to punch someone. Thankfully, Jill interupted before I could do something that I would regret.

"Neil," she said quickly, "Will you go up to the counter and order me some baklava to go? Walnut ... and pastashio."

I nodded, like always, and went to get the pastries.

Author's Note: Thank you for reading. Again, please review if you want me to continue. If you don't want to review, just follow or favourite. Please? Thanks.


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don't own the Bloodlines series.

Author's Note: Thank you to i 3 Neil and to Rainy for reviewing. I really apreciate your support and I hope that you will keep reading this story. I will be continuing it so please review and tell me what you think of this chapter.

Chapter Seven

The next few days were quite peaceful. I did notice however that Angeline kept asking me to train with her. I did, of course, because she needed to be trained in order to protect Jill but I was still a little confused about why she would ask me to train her and not Eddie. Of course, I knew that there was some bad history between him and Angeline, but she did know him better than she knew me.

One morning, a few days after the disastrous dinner with Adrian and Jill, I was demonstrating to Angeline how to incapacitate someone without killing them. She was a good fighter but it was quite difficult to teach her as she kept arguing that she should just stake them and save herself trouble.

"It won't always be Strigoi you're facing." I told her patiently.

"I know," she said, "But staking works for anyone, right?"

"Yes," I said slowly, "But you might not always want to kill them."

"I suppose," she said, "Can you go over that move again?"

I sighed and we continued to practice.

The rest of the day I felt frustrated. Angeline really could be endearing sometimes but mostly she was frustrating.

When I was on my way to PE, my phone rang. When I looked at it, I saw that it was Hans, the guardian in charge of Court.

Wondering what this could be about, I answered the call.

Author's Note: Sorry for the short chapter. I will post the next one as soon as I get 3 more reviews. Thanks for reading and please review if you want the next chapter. hunterofartemis126 (Nicolaclair).


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I don't own Bloodlines.

Author's Note: A huge thank you to Rainy for reviewing. Your support means so much to me. Please keep reading and reviewing. I'm just back from Benidorm and I'm writing this chapter on the plane home to Scotland. Yay! More rain and miserable cold! Anyway, I hope that you enjoy.

Chapter Eight

"Hello?" I said into the phone.

"Is that Neil Raymond?" asked a gruff voice. He had an American accent and he sounded annoyed.

"Yes," I said warily. "Is this Guardian Croft?"

"Who else would call you from Court?" he asked.

I made no answer so he continued.

"You've to accompany Adrian Ivashkov to Texas," He said bluntly, "I've just had an order from the queen."

I was pretty surprised to hear this. Why was Adrian going to Texas? Why was I the one who had to accompany him?

"Before you start asking questions," Hans said, "There has been another strigoi restoration."

"Who performed it?" I asked curiously.

"A young lady named Nina Sinclair. She just restored her sister, Olive." Hans explained.

"Was it very recent?" I asked. I had heard, of course, that both Dimitri Belikov and Sonya Karp had been restored from being a Strigoi.

"Less than 24 hours ago." Hans said. "Now, get to your dorm and start packing."

"Of course, Sir." I said and immediately headed to my room.

I was unsure of what to pack. I knew that Texas would be pretty hot so I ended up packing five light outfits into a dufflebag, along with toiletries. As always, I kept my silver stake in the pocket of my light jacket.

As I walked out of my room, I thought about how I would get to the airport. I decided to go to central campus and get a taxi from there.

As I entered central campus, I saw Sydney approaching me.

"Hey, Neil," she said, "Where are you going?"

"The airport," I said, "I need to go with Adrian to Texas."

"Oh, yes," she said, "You want a ride?"

"Sure," I said. "Thank you."

"No problem," she said and we went to get her car.

The ride to the airport was mostly quiet. Sydney seemed a nice person but today, she seemed pretty distracted.

"Everything ok?" I asked. I wouldn't normally but she was usually quite talkative.

"Yeah, I'm fine." she said, "I just have ... a lot to think about."

"Oh, ok." I said and let it go. I wasn't one to pry and besides, she obviously didn't want to talk about it.

Finally, we reached the airport. Adrian arrived five minutes later and exchanged a few comments with Sydney. I didn't really listen, instead I looked at the board and saw that it was time to go.

"It's time to go." I said and we made our goodbyes to Sydney.

The flight was a pleasant one. I read my book, the same one I'd bought in Devon, and Adrian read his. I still didn't know why he'd wanted me to come with him, but I decided that it would be better not to ask.

When we arrived in Texas, we got a rental car and drove to the house that the Guardians were keeping the sisters in.

As we got out, I saw that Adrian looked quite ... nervous. I'd never seen him look nervous before, not ever.

"Well," he said. "Here goes nothing."

Author's Note: Well, I know that it was kinda boring but please review anyway. Also, if you ever go to Benidorm, there's an awesome Olly Murs tribute act. His name is John-Paul and he's amazing! He even sang a song to me, and kissed me on the cheek! So, John-Paul, if you ever read this, thanks for being awesome!

Anyway, please review! hunterofartemis126 (Nicolaclair)


	9. Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I don't own Bloodlines. Richelle Mead does.

Author's Note: Thanks for the new review and follow! It means so much to me! I will try to be a better writer and make my chapters longer. So, please don't give up on me yet. Anyway, on with the chapter!

Chapter Nine

As we approached the house, I noticed a familiar figure on the porch. I hadn't met her personally but everyone from our society knew Rose Hathaway when they saw her.

"You made good time." Adrian told Rose. "Did Belikov bend the rules of space and time to get here so fast? He can do that, right?"

Rose smiled, and I'll admit, the joke was slightly funny to me too. I tried to hide my smile, though. I was here on business, after all.

"No need to, today," Rose replied still smiling, "We got really really lucky and got on a flight the instant we found out about this. And we only got here about an hour ago."

I suppose that it was slightly impressive that the Queen sent Rose and Dimitri here. But then, maybe it wasn't. After all, Dimitri had been a Strigoi and Rose, from what I knew, had seen and done many things in her life.

My rambling thoughts were cut off when Rose turned to me and shook my hand warmly.

"I'm Rose," She introduced. I smiled at her slightly and shook her hand in return.

"Neil," I replied bowing my head slightly in a formal way. Well, she was the queen's guardian, after all. "It's a great honour to meet you. Your heroics with Dimitri Belikov are legendary."

I could tell, by her reaction, that she was a little surprised. I know I came across as over the top to a lot of people, but I was genuinely awed to meet her, especially after hearing about all this young guardian had gone through.

"Um, thanks," Rose told me finally. "He's inside if you want to meet him."

I felt a serge of excitement. Meeting Guardian Belikov would almost be a dream come true for me. His stellar Guardian status was admired amongst all of us.

"That would be wonderful!" I said sincerely, but then I became uncertain. I glanced at Adrian but he simply waved me off.

"Go, go," He said easily. "I'll be fine. Besides, this is Rose's not so subtle way of saying she wants to talk to me alone. Go do some hero worship.

He didn't need to tell me twice. I entered the house and the first thing I saw was a group of Guardians. I recognized one of them, immediately.

"Guardian Belikov?" I asked as I moved towards him. He turned around, a perfect mask of guardian calmness fixed into place on his face. I could only hope that one day, I could be as perfect a guardian as he was. I'd even settle for being half that good.

"Yes?" He asked, "Do I know you?"

"No," I responded, "I just wanted to meet you. Rose told me I'd find you here. I'm Neil Raymond."

It all came out quite fast and I hoped I didn't sound too weird.

"You're the guardian that Adrian brought with him?" Guardian Belikov asked.

"Yes," I answered simply.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." he said, smiling at me. I smiled back and we shook hands.

"So," I asked, "What's it like, living at Court, Guardian Belikov?"

"Please," he said with a smile, "Call me Dimitri."

"Ok," I agreed. "So what-"

I was interupted as a Moroi girl who I didn't know came into the room with a blanket around her shoulders. At almost the same time, Rose and Adrian came inside. Rose looked slightly disgusted about something but her expression softened when she saw the other girl.

"Nina," Rose said gently, "You should go back to bed."

The Moroi girl, who looked to be in her early twenties, shook her head and stared at the two of them with wide, beautiful grey eyes.

"I want to know what's going on," she said. Her voice was slightly shaky but it was obvious that she had a determined streak that I liked instantly. "Why are new people here? What are you going to do with Olive? Are you going to experiment on her like some sort of lab animal?"

The girl, what was her name again? Oh right Nina, began shaking now. Her pale face filled with a mixture of fear and angry. I understood that. If it was my sister who had just come back, I'd be furious if I thought that anything was going to happen to her.

"Everything's going to be fine. There's no need to worry" Adrian soothed. I could tell from his voice that he was trying to compel her. A part of me wondered why he would even try. If this girl really was a spirit user, his powers probably wouldn't have that big of an effect on her.

Nina's features, which had been twisted with fury before, began to relax. Then, just as quickly, she shot Adrian with one of the fiercest glares that I have ever seen.

"Don't try that on me!" She hissed angrily. I smiled slightly. I was lord, she'd noticed his compulsion.

Adrian chuckled and held his hands out, as if to placate her. "Just trying to help." He told her.

"Everything really will be OK," Rose assured her, "This is Adrian. He just needs to talk to her. You can come along."

Nina stared at Adrian for a long moment with suspicious eyes before they walked off, farther into the house. Glancing around, I followed them, unsure of what I would find.

Author's Note: So, what did you think? Please review and let me know! hunterofartemis126 (Nicolaclair)


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Everything belongs to Richelle Mead.

Author's Note: Hey guys! In this chapter, Neil and Olive finally meet! Also, my birthday was on the 14th and I'm 14 now! I got a hamster with all the money I got. Her name is Honey and she's really cute! I was supposed to get a cat but my sister told me that I'm not allowed one.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter and please review! :D

Chapter Ten

As I followed the others, I wondered what I would find. My guess was that this Olive girl, if she was anything like what I'd heard about restored strigoi, would be very weak and probably pretty confused and scared.

As I was thinking about this, we stepped into a large bedroom with peeling wall paper and a dark haired girl sitting up in a quilted bed. I tried to hold back a gasp. Olive was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Her long dark hair was like silk, her coppery skin glowed faintly with a kind of shine and her big dark eyes looked like pools of melted chocolate.

I had never really noticed girls before. I hadn't even really thought about dating or anything like that. My guardian duty was always more important. Everything else in my life was meaningless in comparison. But, as I looked at Olive Sinclair, I wondered what it would be like to kiss her. To hold her hand. To...

Suddenly, I realized that I couldn't think like this. Not while she was so newly restored. She needed comfort and encouragement, not romantic admiration.

I looked around. While I'd been staring dreamily at Olive, Adrian had been ... well, I'm not too sure. He was staring at her too, but not in an admiring or in any way romantic way. It was more like he was trying to look into her soul or trying to read her mind.

After a moment, Adrian spoke in a tone that I'd never heard him use before. Usually, he spoke sarcastically or arrogantly. Now, though, he spoke with authority.

"If you want any chance to learn how to save others," Adrian told us clearly. "You need to do exactly what I say and you need to do it now."

We all stared at him in surprise or shock. What had he seen? Was Olive OK? I needed answers.

"We need to get a doctor here," Adrian said to the room at large. "Or a nurse. Hell, anyone who can safely draw blood."

Immediately, Dimitri took out his mobile phone and hurriedly left the room, already dialling a number.

"Why are you taking her blood?" Nina asked fiercely.

"Because you better have a good reason!" Olive snapped. Yes, there was definitely a fire in her that I really liked. "Or I'm going to walk right out of here!" I couldn't help a slight twinge of amusement. She would never get past any one of the guardians but again, I had to admire her courage and certainty of her own abilities.

My admiring was cut off when I noticed Olive shudder. "I've seen enough blood for a lifetime these past three months."

Now, hearing her mention her strigoi days, I felt sympathy for her wash through me. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to be a monster like that. I wanted to comfort her. To tell her that everything would be OK.

"Your blood may save lives." Adrian explained to Olive simply. Then, he seemed to rethink his word choice. "Or well souls. No strigoi can ever turn you again."

Some of Olive's fierceness melted away to be replaced by... I'm not entirely sure. Hope? Wonder? Relief? "Really? You mean it? Because I really would rather be dead than go through that again."

Olive squeezed her eyes shut and again I wanted to comfort her. Surely, I could at least make her feel a little better. "It was awful." She said in a small voice.

"I know," Adrian said soothingly. I knew that he was just trying to sooth her but I had to hold back a scowl. He'd never gone through what she had. How could he know how it felt?

After some more discussion, I saw an opportunity to talk to Olive alone. I approached her slowly, slightly nervous that I might embarrass myself.

"Olive?" I asked quietly. She looked at me warily.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Neil," I told her. "I just wanted to tell you that I think it's admirable. Coming through all of this the way you have."

"Thanks, I guess." Olive said cautiously. "But I've done a lot of really terrible things. If you knew what I'd done in the past few months ... well, I'm pretty positive you wouldn't even speak to me."

"That wasn't you, Olive." I said soothingly. I knew that I wasn't very good at comforting people, but I had to try. "You're brave and beautiful and you have to let go of the things that you couldn't control in the past few months. You can do it, Olive, because you're brave and I know you'll have the determination to do it."

"That means a lot," She whispered. "Having someone say that they believe in you."

"Well, it's true." I promised. "And I'll be there if you ever need someone to talk to. I mean ... only if you want, of course."

"I'd like that," Olive said and then she smiled at me and I thought that she had the most beautiful smile I had ever seen. I smiled back at her gently and wondered how anyone could possibly be so brave and determined.

Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed. Also thank you to Rainy for her two reviews. I get what you mean and you're probably right. Oh well, maybe you'll enjoy this chapter more. hunterofartemis126 (Nicolaclair)

PS: I've got a new Bloodlines fanfic coming out. It's called "The Unknown Dragomir", and it would mean a lot of you check it out and review it! Thanks!


	11. Chapter 11

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Everything belongs to Richelle Mead.

Author's Note: Hi everyone. I'm back with a new chapter! Special thanks to everyone you reviewed, as always I really apreciate it. Anyway, on with the chapter and I hope you enjoy! :D

Chapter Eleven

When the nurse finally arrived and took a sample of Olive's blood, Adrian had several silver rings put around the vial of blood which he had charmed with spirit. Afterward, he went off with Nina, and when Nina returned, she told us that Adrian had gone to bed, exhausted after his usage of spirit.

Soon after Adrian had gone to bed, Olive, Nina and most of the guardians left to go back to the royal court.

I was sad to see Nina go, but she pulled me aside before she went.

"Hey," She said to me as we stood in the downstairs hallway. "When you said earlier, you know, that you would be there to talk to me, did you mean it?"

"Of course," I told her, a little surprised that she would ask this.

"Well, here's my email address," She said, offering me a piece of paper. "Maybe we could keep in touch."

"I'd like that." I assured her and we shared a smile.

As Adrian and I flew home the next morning, I couldn't stop talking about Olive. Adrian, although he contributed to the conversation, seemed a little distracted. I didn't really think about that, though. All I could think about right then was getting back to Amberwood, making sure all was well with Jill, and then emailing Olive.

"So, how was Texas?" Eddie asked me a while after we got back. "Did Adrian learn anything?"

"Hmm?" I asked, looking up from my laptop, which was just booting up. "Oh, yes. He learned that there was a lot of spirit magic in Olive's blood. He's had a sample of it sent back to Court, to be examined by the other spirit users."

"That could be a major breakthrough," Eddie said. "I hope Lissa and Sonya can learn something from the blood."

I nodded in agreement. If Adrian's discovery really could prevent Strigoi turning people, then of course I hoped it worked.

Glancing back down at my laptop, I saw that I had a new email. I clicked on it and saw to my displeasure that it was Edward Brown, from my old base in Devon. My displeasure deepened when I saw his sarcastic message.

Edward Brown: Hey Guardian Raymond, I've heard about your recent trip to Texas. It must be nice, being able to travel to different places instead of being here in Devon, eh?

I scowled as I deleted the email. That wasn't even worthy of a response. I knew perfectly well that he was trying to talk down to me.

Trying to put him out of my mind, I wrote out an email to Olive and hit send.

N eil Raymond: Olive, I just wanted to let you know that this is my email address if you ever want to talk. I'll always be here to listen to you.

-Neil

I closed my laptop, knowing not to expect a response right away and went with Eddie from dinner.

Author's Note: Sorry about the short chapter, please review and tell me what you think. Thanks! hunterofartemis126


	12. Chapter 12

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, Richelle Mead does.

Author's Note: Hi, everyone, I'm back with a new chapter. Sorry for the long wait, I had writer's block. I've made this chapter longer to make up for it. And there will be a twist in this chapter, so look forward to that. Anyway, merry Christmas and I hope you enjoy the chapter! And please, PM me or review and tell me what you think.

Chapter Eleven

At dinner, everyone wanted to know about my trip to Texas. I explained everything to them again, and they were excited to hear about the possible breakthrough.

After dinner, I did some homework. Although I had already been through high school, I still needed to go through the motions of doing the work. Fortunately, I'd done most of these topics before so it was easy and didn't require a lot of effort.

While I was typing out the final paragraph in my English essay, I heard a knock at my door. Frowning, I opened it to find Sydney, her face as white as snow.

"Sydney?" I asked her, surprised. "What's the matter?"

"It's Jill and Zoe!" Sydney exclaimed breathlessly, "They've disappeared!"

It didn't take long to gather the rest of our group together and put the pieces together. Jill and zoe had been paired up to do an assignment, and when Sydney had gone to find them in the library, they'd been gone. Trey Juarez, a good friend of Sydney's had seen them leaving the library, with a strange man that he'd never seen before. According to Trey, their expressions had been somewhat glazed and blank.

"Compulsion," Said Eddie right away, "It must have been a powerful moroi who took them."

"A spirit user, maybe?" I asked. I really couldn't believe this, my charge was gone. And they had been no guardians around to prevent this. I had failed. And I could see from Eddie's look of pain that he shared my guilt. No, not shared it, his was clearly on a more personal level than mine. So, that left only one thing to do: get them back.

"It could have been a spirit user," Eddie said at last. "But who? We don't know of many spirit users, and none of the ones we do know would've done this."

"We should tell Lissa right away," Adrian said. We'd called him straight away, and he'd rushed to Amberwood as fast as he could. "She needs to know what's going on."

Everyone agreed and Adrian quickly dialed the queen's number. After a hushed conversation, he turned back to us with the most serious expression I'd ever seen on his face.

"She's sending Dimitri and Rose to help us look for them," He said. "She's sure it's a spirit user from the information that I could give her."

Just then, the dorm matron, Mrs Weathers, called over to us. "Are you looking for your sister and cousin?" She asked us, "They've left you a note."

In a flash, Eddie had taken the note from her and returned to us. We crowded around and shivered on the words written on the note: Poor, poor fools. I've got the Dragomir princess and I'm not going to waste my time. My brother's life was cut short the last time we tried to capture her, but this time, I will succeed. Good luck finding her before it's too late.

-R.D.

Author's Note: OK, so I hope you enjoyed the chapter and a special mention to whoever can figure out who RD is. Thanks for reading, and remember to tell me what you thought in a review! hunterofartemis126


	13. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, Richelle Mead does.

Author's Note: Hi, everyone! Here is the next chapter. Special mention to Rainy, thank you for reviewing and well done, RD is Victor's brother. So, on with the story and please remember to review!

Chapter Thirteen

"Who is RD?" I said, "Could it be a Moroi rebel?"

"I don't know," Eddie said, glaring down at the note, "But we have to find out."

We stayed up all night, discussing what we should do next. We all agreed that we needed to find out how RD was, but how could we do that?

The next morning, we still had no answers. Nevertheless, we all went to the airport to meet Rose and Dimitri.

"So, what's the plan?" Rose asked, eager as ever for action. "What clues do we have?"

"Well, we have this," Eddie said, holding out the note to Rose. Rose studied it for a moment, and then realisation lit her dark eyes.

"Oh my God," She muttered. "It's Robert Deru!"

"Who?" I asked her, confused. Could Robert Deru be a Moroi assassin? And if so, why would he have left such a note? Why leave us a clue?

"He's Victor Dashkov's crazy brother," Rose exclaimed, "He and his brothers tried to capture her before. We went after them and well ... I killed Victor in the struggle."

"So, you're saying he wants revenge?" Eddie asked her anxiously.

"Yeah," Replied Rose grimly, "And I think I know what we should do."

After Rose's shocking news, we went back to Amberwood and Rose immediately called the queen. After a brief conversation, she turned back to us with a grim but determined look on her face.

"All right, I'm going to call Robert and put an end to this."

"But how?" I asked, "Surely he won't even answer to you. Especially if he's as paranoid as you say."

"Oh, he'll answer," Rose said, and began to dial the number.

"Hello, is that Robert?" Rose said into the phone, "Yes, this is Rose Hathaway, the one who killed your brother."

There is a long, ominous silence and then, Rose's face went white. "No, don't. She's innocent! Where are you? No... I'll come to you. Yes, three o'clock. Okay." She hung up the phone and turned back to us.

"Okay, I've got a plan."

Author's Note: Sorry this is so short, but please remember to review and tell me what you thought.


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